Common greetings

Let us have a look at some of the most common greetings in Russian.

• Доброе утро – good morning
• Добрый день – good afternoon
• Добрый вечер – good evening
• Спокойной ночи – goodnight (when going to bed)

Saying Good-Bye.

There are also two words for saying good-bye. You should generally use до свидания, which is appropriate in formal or informal situations. You may also hear people say Пока, but we suggest you only use it with friends.

Introducing Yourself.

In order to introduce yourself, you may need the following phrases. Note: The above 3 phrases are grammatically unusual. You should just learn the whole phrase, not the individual words.

Russian Family Words

Here are the words Russians commonly use to refer to members of their family:

• Мать – mother
• Отец – father
• Мама – mum
• Папа – dad
• Сестра – sister
• Брат – brother
• Дочь – daughter
• Сын – son
• бабушка – grandmother
• Дедушка – grandfather
• Жена – wife
• Муж – husband
• Тётя – auntie
• Дядя – uncle
• Родители – parents
• Дети – children
• Внучка – granddaughter
• Внук – grandson
• Семья – family

Just like English, in Russian there are two ways to refer to your mother and father. For example we use the words mum and dad. Most commonly Russians use the words Mama and Papa to refer to their parents.

Basic Russian phrases

Quite often you want to tell people how many brothers and sisters you have. Here are some Russian phrases you could use.

• У меня есть сестра – I have a sister.
• У меня есть брат – I have a brother.

• У тебя есть дети? – Do you have children?.
• У меня есть сын и дочь – I have a son and a daughter.
• У меня нет детей – I don’t have any children.

Possessive Pronouns: In order to talk about your family you normally need to use possessive pronouns. You should always choose the possessive pronoun that matches the gender of the item it owns.

• Мой (m), Моя (f), Моё (n), Мои (pl) – my
• Твой (m), Твоя (f), Твоё (n), Твои (pl) – your
• Его (m n) (“yevo”), Её (f) – his, her
• Наш (m), Наша (f), Наше (n), Наши (pl) – our
• Ваш (m), Ваша (f), Ваше (n), Ваши (pl) – your
• Их – their

Now you will be able to combine Russian words and phrases that your learnt in earlier lessons to talk about your family. Here are some Russian phrases and sentences you could say with words you already know.

• Моя мама любит музыку – My mother loves music
• Моя сестра читает газету – My sister is reading a newspaper
• Мой брат любит спорт – My brother loves sport
• Твой брат любит спорт – Your brother loves sport
• Наш брат любит спорт – Our brother loves sport

• Меня зовут Анна – my name is Anna
• Её зовут Анна – her name is Anna
• Его зовут Иван – his name is Ivan.

This is…

The Russian word Это means ‘this is’. Here is how you can use it with some possessive pronouns.

• Это мой дом – This is my house
• Это моя квартира – This is my apartment
• Это твоя квартира? – Is this your apartment?

Please and Thank-You.

The two most important words you will learn in Russian are please and thank-you. You can just add these to any sentence to make it more polite. The word Пожалуйста is also used to mean “You’re Welcome”, after somebody says thank-you. You should always say this after someone thanks you. Пожалуйста is pronounced a little different than it is written, you can basically forget the “уй”

Yes and No.

Two other very important Russian words are “Yes” and “No”.

Saying Hello.

When you are in Russia and you meet somebody, the first thing you will want to do is to say “hello”. There are two forms of this word. Здравствуйте may be a little difficult for you to pronounce at first, but it is the most common Russian greeting so you should try to practice it. Привет is also commonly used with friends. However, keep in mind that Привет is informal (much like “hi” in English), and should only be used with friends. If somebody says Привет to you, then it is normally safe to proceed in the friendly tone.

How are you?

The most natural way to ask someone how they are in Russian is to ask: “how are things?”

Asking about languages

When you are speaking Russian you should ask questions in a different tone. The tone of your voice should rise if you are asking a question. If you are making a statement your tone will naturally fall. The ending of the verb говорю (speak) changes depending on who the subject is.

English			Russian
Hello			Привет – Privet
Good evening			Добрый вечер – Dobryj večer
Goodbye			пока – poka
See you later			До скорого – Do skorogo
Yes			Да – Da
No			Нет – Net
Excuse me!			Пожалуйста – Požalujsta
Thanks			Спасибо – Spasibo
Thanks a lot			Большое спасибо ! – Bolšoe spasibo !
Thank you for your help			Спасибо за вашу помощь – Spasibo za vašu pomoŝ
Don’t mention it			Прошу вас – Prošu vas
Ok			Ладно – Ladno
How much is it?			Скажите пожалуйста, сколько это стоит? – Skažite požalujsta, skolko èto stoit?
Sorry!			Извините – Izvinite
I don’t understand			Я не понимаю – Ja ne ponimaju
I get it			Понятно – Ponjatno
I don’t know			Я не знаю – Ja ne znaju
Forbidden			Запрещено – Zapreŝeno
Excuse me, where are the toilets?			Скажите пожалуйста где туалет? – Skažite požalujsta gde tualet?
Happy New Year!			С новым годом! – S novym godom!
Happy birthday!			С днём рождения! – S dnëm roždenija!
Happy holiday!			С праздником! – S prazdnikom!
Congratulations!			Поздравляю! – Pozdravljaju!

Restoraunt:

Russsian Course

 Russian Course 2 Russian Course 3 Russian Vocabulary Russian Vocabulary 1  ]]>

The first conjugation

The first conjugation is used for verbs ending in “ть” but not “ить”. It is the most common. To form the verb for each person you need to drop the last two letters of the infinitive (normally “ть”), and add the appropriate ending (“ю”, “ешь”, “ет”, “ем”, “ете” or “ют”).Let’s take a look at a verb that uses the first conjugation: работать (to work).

работать – To work. (infinitive, dictionary form)

Я работаю – I work

Ты работаешь – You work

Он, Она, Оно работает – He, She, It works.

Мы работаем – We work

Вы работаете – You work.

Они работают – They work.

Let’s try some other Russian words from the first conjugation:

понимать – To understand. (infinitive, dictionary form)

Я понимаю – I understand.

Ты понимаешь – You understand.

Он, Она, Оно понимает – He, She, It understands

Мы понимаем – We understand.

Вы понимаете – You understand.

Они понимают – They understand.

Знать – To know. (infinitive, dictionary form)

Я знаю – I know.

Ты знаешь – You know.

Он, Она, Оно знает – He, She, It knows.

Мы знаем – We know.

Вы знаете – You know.

Они знают – They know.

Remember you can make a statement negative by using the word “не” (not). For example:

Я не знаю – I don’t know.

Я не понимаю – I don’t understand.

Он не понимает – He doesn’t understand.

You can also form questions:

Ты знаешь? – Do you know?

Ты понимаешь? – Do you understand?

Thus one Russian present tense corresponds to several English present tenses. Compare:

In Russian	In English
я читаю	I readI am readingI have been reading

2.

Verb Conjugation A Russian verb has six forms in the present tense, one for each of the subject pronouns (1st, 2nd and 3rd persons, singular and plural). By looking at the ending of the verb we can tell the person and the number of the verb. This is called verb conjugation.The Present tense form consists of a verb stem followed by an ending denoting person and number. Most Russian verbs fall into two groups: first conjugation and second conjugation.First conjugation verbs take the endings -ю(-у ); -ешь; -ет; -ем; -ете and -ют (- ут) in the Present Tense.Second conjugation verbs take the endings -ю (-у); -ишь; -ит; -им; -ите and -ят (-ат) in the Present Tense. Study the formation of the present tense:

1-st conjugation verbs                       2-nd conjugation verbs

Infinitive		читать to read	гулять to walk		говорить to speak	смотреть to watch	учить to learn (memorize)
я – I  ты – you  он, она – he,she  мы – we  вы – you  они – they		чита–ю  чита–ешь  чита–ет  чита–ем  чита–ете  чита–ют	гуля–ю  гуля–ешь  гуля–ет  гуля–ем  гуля–ете  гуля–ют		говор-ю  говор-ишь  говор-ит  говор-им  говор-ите  говор-ят	смотр-ю  смотр-ишь  смотр-ит  смотр-им  смотр-ите  смотр-ят	уч-у  уч-ишь  уч-ит  уч-им  уч-ите  уч-ат

Notes

• Conjugations are memorized with pronouns.
• To form the present tense of first conjugation verbs remove the ending -ть from infinitive and add the appropriate present tense ending.
• To form the present tense of second  conjugation verbs remove three final letters (и or е and -ть) from infinitive and replace them by the appropriate present tense ending.
• Never break a spelling rule when adding endings to verbs, i.e. after  к, г, х, ж, ш, щ, ч, ц  write у and а instead of юand я (я учу, они учат).

3.

First conjugation verbs with stems ending in a consonant For a few but common first conjugation verbs the stem of the present tense is different from the stem of the infinitive. Such verbs have present tense stems ending in a consonant which is not reflected in the infinitive stem. Memorize two of them for now: жить – to live (infinitive stem: жи-, present tense stem: жив-) and писать – to write (infinitive stem: писа-, present tense stem: пиш-).Study their present tense forms. Note the difference between the infinitive stem and the present tense stem:

Infinitive		жить to live	писать to write
я – I ты – you он, она – he,she мы – we вы – you они – they		жив-у  жив-ёшь  жив-ёт  жив-ём  жив-ёте  жив-ут	пиш-у  пиш-ешь  пиш-ет  пиш-ем  пиш-ете  пиш-ут

Notes

• First conjugation verbs with present tense stems ending in a consonant have the ending -у for я-form and -ут forони-form, instead of expected -ю, -ют. Compare: я читаю, они читают but я живу, они живут.
• The vowel е is replaced by ё under stress in verb endings (ты читаешь, ты пишешь but ты живёшь)
• Always learn both the infinitive and the conjugation of each verb.
• Past tense of all verbs is formed from the infinitive stem: он жил, она жила, оно жило, они жили; он писал, она писала, оно писало, они писали.

Russian Verbs

In Russian there is only one way of saying “I work”, “I am working” and “I do work”. Russian verbs change their endings depending on the subject.  (Example: I work, he works). This happens according to two different patterns known as the first conjugation, and the second conjugation. (There are also some irregular verbs). Both these patterns are quite similar, and once you get the hang of it, it is not too difficult.

The first conjugation

The first conjugation is used for verbs ending in “ть” but not “ить”. It is the most common. To form the verb for each person you need to drop the last two letters of the infinitive (normally “ть”), and add the appropriate ending (“ю”, “ешь”, “ет”, “ем”, “ете” or “ют”).Let’s take a look at a verb that uses the first conjugation: работать (to work).

работать – To work. (infinitive, dictionary form)

• Я работаю – I work
• Ты работаешь – You work
• Он, Она, Оно работает – He, She, It works.
• Мы работаем – We work
• Вы работаете – You work.
• Они работают – They work.

Let’s try some other Russian words from the first conjugation:

понимать – To understand. (infinitive, dictionary form)

• Я понимаю – I understand.
• Ты понимаешь – You understand.
• Он, Она, Оно понимает – He, She, It understands
• Мы понимаем – We understand.
• Вы понимаете – You understand.
• Они понимают – They understand.

Знать – To know. (infinitive, dictionary form)

• Я знаю – I know.
• Ты знаешь – You know.
• Он, Она, Оно знает – He, She, It knows.
• Мы знаем – We know.
• Вы знаете – You know.
• Они знают – They know.

Remember you can make a statement negative by using the word “не” (not). For example:

• Я не знаю – I don’t know.
• Я не понимаю – I don’t understand.
• Он не понимает – He doesn’t understand.

You can also form questions:

• Ты знаешь? – Do you know?
• Ты понимаешь? – Do you understand?

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